


Fever

by ZoeWiloh



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Hints of future Matt/Karen, Hurt/Comfort, Karen POV, Nightmares, Pre-Season/Series 02, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2019-01-30 08:53:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12650250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoeWiloh/pseuds/ZoeWiloh
Summary: Matt and Foggy take care of Karen when she gets sick. Lots of fluff. Will have minor plot in second chapter.





	Fever

Ever wake up in the morning and immediately just _know_ it’s not your day? Right as you open your eyes, you know nothing good can come out of it? That’s the kind of day Karen knew was ahead of her. No, scratch that, because Karen didn’t even have to open her eyes to be completely sure that nothing about today would be easy.

It took a ridiculous amount of energy for Karen to open her eyes, and when she realized how much they burned she slammed them shut again. For a moment she reveled in the relief until she remembered that the alarm currently stabbing in her ears was not going to turn itself off. Her hand hesitantly reached out from under the covers but only succeeded in knocking her phone to the floor, where the alarm continued to blast, not muffled nearly enough for her poor ears.

Yep, definitely not her day.

Every task was taxing, from just hauling herself out of bed to brushing her teeth to picking an outfit. It was odd, in a way she felt like everything was fuzzy but somehow at the same time it felt like every sensation she experienced was sharp and stabbing. Eventually, she just decided that autopilot was the only way she could possibly even get to work. She didn’t want to think about the kind of endurance it would take to make it through a whole day in this condition.

Despite stumbling to work in a nearly zombie-like state, Karen managed to make it to the office before Matt and Foggy. Her first thought was to start brewing some coffee so that it would be ready when they arrived, but she ended up getting distracted by her desk chair and how strangely inviting it looked. There were other things she could do to get ready for their day, like gathering relevant files or making sure the coffee mugs from yesterday were in the sink and fresh ones were clean and available. But her eyes burned so badly she couldn’t imagine reading, and in the time it took to think that through, the thought of the mugs had already fallen out of her head. She ended up settling into her chair and folding her arms on the desk, resting her head on top. She probably had a few minutes before Matt and Foggy showed up and surely they wouldn’t mind if she rested her head for just a minute, right? They were good bosses, they would understand…

“Karen?”

Hearing her name made her jump and jerk her head up violently. She grimaced at the pain that flashed through her head at the sudden motion. Matt’s voice was as soft as usual, but it felt impossibly loud, assaulting her eardrums. She looked around in confusion and sniffed, rubbing her running nose on the sleeve of her sweater.

Both of her friends/bosses had come around to stand behind the desk on either side of her. She vaguely registered that Matt had his head cocked toward her, looking concerned and motioning something with a nod to Foggy. “Are you okay, Karen? You don’t look so hot,” Foggy said, looking her over.

Normally Karen would object to this kind of scrutiny by pointing out that she was an adult and didn’t need them worrying about her constantly, but today she couldn’t muster the energy to complain and simply mumbled, “Uh-huh.”

Her almost non verbal answer didn’t have the desired effect of making her friends back off from alert. Matt still stood nearby with a hand hovering just off her shoulder, and Foggy seemed to be paying even more attention than before. “You look like a mess,” he stated simply. If he felt guilty for his blunt comment, he didn’t show it.

Indignation was her first reaction, but she didn’t have the energy to be properly offended either. Closing her eyes, she focused enough to string together a response. “Guys, I’m fine.” It was only three little words and it still felt like a speech, taking even more energy from her already extremely depleted reserves. Her brain idly half-wondered what would happen if she had tried to actually talk like a functioning person. She pictured the battery gauge on her phone and imagined her consciousness blinking out and fading to black as the battery dropped from a single percent to none. Not the most reassuring image.

“Karen, your dress isn’t zipped up all the way and you didn’t put on makeup this morning,” Foggy said gently. He looked her up and down again before adding, “Your hair isn’t brushed and I think you’re wearing two different shoes.” Well, that explained part of why it felt so odd walking here.

Matt’s head snapped up in alarm hearing Foggy’s description and he finally placed his hand on her shoulder before recoiling. “Uh, you’re really warm.”

“‘M fine,” she huffed. She reached behind her to finish securing the zipper Foggy had pointed out. It was only an inch or three undone, why was he acting like it was such a big deal? She tried to stand to get them coffee, pointlessly figuring that doing a normal task would make them drop the matter. But she failed to consider the potential effect the disorientation and pounding in her head would have and she toppled over, Matt catching her around the torso before she could fall too far.

Always the gentleman with her, he quickly adjusted his grip to a more appropriate location on her body before helping lower her into her chair again. As she looked around in confusion she again noticed the concerned looks on their faces as they whispered to each other. She knew she should probably listen - even in this muddled state she knew they could only be talking about her - but for what felt like the hundredth time that day already, she acknowledged in her mind that she simply didn’t have the energy to do so. It wasn’t as if she wouldn’t find out what they were saying about her eventually anyway. She moved to lay her head on her arms again but then realized how cool the desk felt and just laid her cheek directly against it, relishing the coolness against her face and not caring if it made Matt and Foggy look at her even more strangely. It felt refreshing in a way she couldn’t put into words and she let her eyes fall closed.

“Karen?” Matt’s voice broke through her daze, and judging from his alarmed tone, this likely wasn’t the first time he tried addressing her. “Karen, I think you should go home.”

She raised her head from the desk a few inches. “But,” she began, the congestion making her voice sound even more like a whine, “don’t you guys need me? You have the...the, um...isn’t Maxine Grayson coming in today?”

“I think you mean Adam and Sasha Grayson,” Foggy pointed out. “Maxine is their daughter who died last year.”

Oh. Right. That could have been a fairly serious faux pas. Still, there must be something she could offer them help with. She was quiet for a long time, running through case files in her barely functioning brain. There had to be something they needed her for but she was coming up blank, so she tried to at least think of _something_ coherent she could say so her bosses wouldn’t think she was entirely incompetent. The longer she tried to think the more she struggled to put together anything meaningful, and her eyes darted around the room, hoping something she saw would trigger a useful thought.

After watching Karen with a puzzled expression on her face for over a full minute, Foggy gently told her, “I think you should go home, K. We can hold down the fort for the day, don’t worry about it. Just feel better.”

Going along with the predominant theme of the day, Karen didn’t have the energy or mental power to argue. After processing what Foggy said for what was probably a bit too long, Matt spoke up, “Fog, you think you can handle things for now? I think I should help her get home.” He added in a whisper, “I’m pretty sure she has a really high fever. Maybe I should stay with her for a while?”

“How high are we talking?” Foggy asked with brows furrowed, sounding very concerned. In the back of her mind the thought registered that his worry for her wellbeing was much greater than her own, and she could feel anxiety growing in her stomach. The few rational thoughts left in her head told her that this kind of fear was uncalled for, that he was worried about her in the same way anyone cared for their friends being even slightly unwell. The same way you hoped a friend with a cold got better soon because you cared and wanted them to feel better, not because they were dying. But the irrational was quickly overtaking her brain, and she began to feed off the nervousness of her friends. Luckily, she lost that train of thought before it could make her truly panic and laid her head down, savoring the feeling of the desk against her other cheek this time.

Matt reached out his hand to her again. He laid it on her shoulder, with most of his fingers resting on her sweater but just the pad of one finger touching the bare skin on the back of her neck. “I’d guess at least 102, probably higher. Less than 105 though.” Karen didn’t register that it was weird he could tell that from a simple touch; she was lost in thought thinking about how good it would feel to crawl back in bed and be able to close her burning eyes. She was thinking of her favorite pajamas that she used to reward herself on tough days and that it may be barely 9 in the morning but damnit, she’d earned them. Matt and Foggy continued to work out the details quietly in the background and Karen couldn’t bring herself to care that they were talking about her as if she wasn’t there. Maybe because she wasn’t really.

She remained in a trance as Foggy called for a cab and Matt helped her get her coat back on and helped her down the stairs. The irony that she was being led by a blind man somehow wasn’t lost on her, at one point making her giggle, earning a confused face from Matt. When she tried to explain, she ended up just laughing harder as Matt helped her into the taxi. He helped shield her head from hitting the edge of the door, similar to how she had seen cops do on TV, but far more gently. His movements seemed so sure that she couldn’t help but marvel at times, though nothing kept her attention for more than 30 seconds before it was swiftly forgotten.

When they reached her apartment, she was grateful she only had to make it up one flight of stairs to the second floor to be home. She stumbled a few times between the street and her apartment - the two shoes she was wearing had a difference of about half an inch in the heel - and every time she glanced at Matt he looked more uneasy. She tried to reassure him with a pat on the arm but it must have ended up seeming more like pawing, and it only served to make him tighten his grip on her arm as she dug through her purse for the key to her apartment.

As soon as she was through the door, she shed her coat and dropped it to the floor, not caring if she was leaving a mess. She saw Matt bend over to pick it up for her, but seemed unsure where to leave it, so he simply folded it and took a few steps forward to drape it on the arm of her couch. Next to go were her unmatched shoes, kicking them under her bed. In the back of her mind she knew she’d probably have difficulty finding them later, but that concern was quickly added to the rapidly growing list of things she couldn’t bring herself to worry about today.

Apparently having her door open while changing - something she never did - was also on the list, especially considering Matt couldn’t see her anyway. She began stripping down immediately, pulling on a soft shirt and her favorite pajama pants. The flannel pants were ridiculously soft and though she usually felt a bit silly in them - they were covered in little polar bears - she reminded herself Matt couldn’t see them anyway so it didn’t matter. All she wanted was to be comfy, and these clothes accomplished that better than any others she owned.

Even though she had been dreaming of falling into bed ever since she dragged herself out of it that morning, she decided to grab a pillow and her heaviest blanket to snuggle in on her couch. Matt was already sitting there awkwardly and she didn’t want to be rude, so she wrapped herself in the blanket and joined him. He looked pretty uncomfortable, but at least he’d taken off his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves. He faced in her direction and made a noise of complaint before saying, “You’re sick, you should be in bed.”

“But my TV is out here,” she responded, pointing to it before realizing he couldn’t see where she was pointing. Or that she was pointing at all. Her arm dropped limply to her side while she tried to think what she should say next. “I can’t sleep. I was gonna put on terrible TV.” To be fair, she wasn’t entirely sure she couldn’t sleep. The words came out without thinking, much like all the others she’d spoken all day.

“Will you be able to get rest that way?” Matt asked, looking unsure.

Karen thinks on that for a moment and then blurts out, “Will you stay with me?” He had shown so much care in getting her home, and she didn’t want him to leave yet. She’d thought that keeping awake was the only way hold him here, but maybe if he would stay while she slept…

Matt blinked a few times at the unexpected change, then slowly said, “If you want me to stay, I’ll stay.”

She couldn’t help but notice that he sounded hesitant. The rational part of her brain was admittedly pretty out-of-order at the moment, and she felt a little hurt. He probably needed to get back to the office or maybe he didn’t want to catch whatever was hitting her so hard. Perfectly reasonable things. But instead her mind jumped to the idea that he wasn’t interested in _her_ , as a friend or otherwise. She had thought she’d been picking up on some signals that he was _interested_ lately, but now she felt silly for thinking he cared. Instead of focusing on the sensible reasons he could have to leave or the fact that he cared enough to ensure she got home safe and clearly wanted what was best for her, she could only conclude _he doesn’t want to be here with me._

The pout on her face became obvious before she could stop it, and this time she wasn’t sure if she wanted him to see. She knew it looked childish and ridiculous, but she also knew from past experience that it was effective.

Somehow, he picked up on it anyway. “You need rest,” he told her sternly. She watched him for a moment, trying to see his eyes through the dark red lenses he wore. It was hard enough normally, and the lighting in her apartment made it impossible. She realized the only light she had turned on was in her bedroom, and the pale bit of light that stretched to her sofa wasn’t enough to be any help on such an overcast day.

She was completely torn. Rest sounded beautiful, it really did. Even in this state she could recognize sleep was important when sick, and she could feel the need for sleep all the way down into her soul. Every nerve in her body was crying out for deep sleep, and she couldn’t suppress a yawn. At the sound, Matt looked resolute and stood up. He offered her his hand as he explained, “Come on, I’ll help you get in bed.”

There was only a brief moment of hesitation before she took his hand, and he pulled her to her feet easily. He kept a firm hand on her arm holding her up while he bent to retrieve the blanket she had let fall around her on the floor. Once the path was clear, she took a hesitant step forward and her legs promptly gave out under her, dropping down to her knees.

The collapse left Matt in a state of panic, and he kneeled down to Karen’s level. “I’m so sorry, Karen, I thought I had you,” he said, worry clear in his voice. She ran her hand down his forearm, trying to wordlessly tell him she was fine and it was okay. “So sorry,” he said again, but the words seemed distant. He continued apologizing, offering to help her up, offering to do whatever she needed. In his rush to help her up he dropped the blanket he had been holding, which gave Karen an idea.

She ignored the offered help and instead reached behind her to grab the pillow she’d left on the sofa and draped the fallen blanket over herself, curling up in a ball in her spot on the floor. Standing was far too much to ask and the floor seemed like a passable substitute for her bed at this point. Yawning again, she nuzzled her pillow and closed her eyes.

The nap she had her heart set on was interrupted and she made a sound of displeasure as Matt gently shook her shoulder. “No, Karen, no, not here,” he said, thankfully softly, because with the proximity she was sure full volume would be more than she could bear.

“Here’s fine,” she responded in a mumble, refusing to open her eyes.

“Kar-” he began.

“Not getting up,” she loudly insisted over him, squeezing her eyes shut tighter and pulling the blanket closer around her. There was a small voice in her head that informed her she was being ridiculous, but she was still determined to stay in her improvised napping spot. She smiled a little to herself, deliriously thinking that if Matt thought she was tenacious on an average day, he had no idea what she would do in the name of stubbornness on days like today.

He touched her upper arm and said something else, but she was adamant that her spot on the floor was perfectly acceptable and she rolled to her other side, parallel to her couch and facing away from him. He said something yet again, but she stubbornly ignored him and tried to sleep. The carpet was rough and the floor was too hard to get comfortable but it would have to do, because she was not going to admit defeat. Besides, he was the one who wanted her to get sleep, why wasn’t he just leaving her alone?

Suddenly, the blanket was taken away and she was lifted into the air with strong arms under her shoulders and knees. She yelped in alarm, fighting slightly and pushing against his chest, but Matt had an unshakable hold on her this time as he carried her easily to her bedroom. For a moment she was worried he’d carry her into the door - he was blind after all - but he effortlessly turned, avoiding any part of her colliding with the doorframe.  

She was almost sad when he set her on the bed; his arms had felt so much better than her previous not-so-brilliant sleeping location and she would have been intrigued if her brain didn’t feel like it had been replaced with a down pillow stuffed inside her skull. Foggy had mentioned in passing a few times that Matt liked to work out, but she wouldn’t have thought he was strong enough to lift and carry her so casually. She hadn’t expected him to do that at all but she had to admit she didn’t mind the way it made her feel, curled in his arms as he carried her with ease. It stuck out to her that he was always showing her new ways he could make her feel safe.

Losing the fight to keep her eyes open, she felt him leave her for a moment before returning with her pillow and blanket. He arranged the pillows and helped ease her back onto them before pulling the blanket up over her.

The only thing left was to turn out the light, and she began, “Don’t forget the-” But she didn’t have to finish, as he easily reached out to the light switch without reminder as he quietly closed the door behind him.

The next time she pried her eyes open, she was actually glad to be awake. No, she didn’t feel any less sick than she had earlier, but anything had to be better than the nightmares that had been marching through her head while she was supposed to be getting much needed rest.

She had experienced enough loss and seen enough blood and gore to provide a lifetime of bad dreams, and they always seemed to make a reappearance just when she needed sleep most. Fighting to sit up in bed, she glanced uneasily around her bedroom. The amount of light told her it was likely still nasty weather outside but still daytime, and a convenient flash of lightning confirmed it. She looked around desperately for something else to focus on in order to keep the nightmare she just had from replaying in her mind, but nothing in the room helped enough to fight it off. She’d been in a pitch black room, armed with a gun, and shooting at threatening noises in the shadows. Suddenly, the lights had turned on and she saw Matt and Foggy, peppered with bullets _she_ had put in them, looking like Wesley had as she fled from the scene of his murder.

Failing to suppress a shudder, she whispered Matt’s name before saying it a little louder. Hoping he was still nearby, she was about to cry it out louder when he hurried through her door, obviously concerned by the panic in her voice. She had endured a lot of traumatic things in her life, but in this sick and shaken state it felt like what she had just seen while asleep had to be the worst and she needed to see him immediately. She wanted to tell herself it was just so she could see that he was fine after the disturbing image from her nightmare, but she couldn’t deny that she was also craving the safety she felt whenever he was nearby.

It had taken a long time before the nightmares about Wesley had stopped, though they still happened occasionally. Some of them involved being kidnapped again. Some amplified the terror of seeing his bloody corpse and knowing she was the one responsible; sometimes those dreams even ended with her being found guilty of his murder and put in prison. And sometimes, like just now, the unforgettable images of bloodshed and her inescapable guilt mixed together to create a new monster to haunt her.

Even all this time later, she was still torn over what she had done. On good days, she told herself that it was him or her - or worse, him or her friends - and she would try to live with what she had done with as little regret as she could, knowing her options had been extremely limited. She still wasn’t at peace with what she’d had to do, but to protect her friends she was willing to live with the feelings of guilt and dread and shame. But then there were also the not so good days, when the horror of her actions consumed her. She desperately wanted to confess to someone about what she had done, but she feared what Matt or Foggy would think of her if they knew she’d taken a gun in her hand and ended someone’s life, regardless of the circumstances. It was even worse that she had reached for the gun and fired it without thinking first; she had acted on instinct in the moment and it frightened her that when her back was against the wall, her instinct was to kill without hesitation. No matter her justifications, she had killed someone. She had caused someone’s heart to stop beating forever and witnessed his last breaths. And then she had ran, abandoning his body for someone else to find. Sometimes she wondered if anything would ever be the same, especially when faced with the thought of her actions bringing harm to her friends.

“Karen, you need to breathe, okay? Karen?” His voice was steady but had a hint of underlying worry similar to when she’d fallen earlier. Breathing? Was she not doing that? She hadn’t realized it until he said something, but her chest _was_ hurting and her breathing was choppy and labored at best. Her head snapped up and her breath caught when he reached out a hand to rest on her arm reassuringly. He pulled back minutely but then settled his hand more firmly. “It’s okay, you’re okay, just breathe for me.”

She tried to breathe and was somewhat successful. He coached her through in and out over and over until she finally felt like she was getting air again. It still hurt a bit with the congestion built up in her chest, but breathing was always positive, right? The slow rhythm she had fallen into helped, and she focused half her attention on breathing and the other half on observing Matt. He looked quite calm now, as if coaching a person’s breathing was something familiar for him. His body language seemed to say ‘now this is something I know how to do’ and she found it strange but very reassuring. She drew on his poise and channeled it into making her chest rise and fall as evenly and normally as she could.

“I have problems with nightmares, too,” he said softly, slightly startling her. She hadn’t noticed when he stopped coaching her breathing, and she struggled to handle the jump from just trying to breathe to having an actual conversation. Her brain scrambled for how to answer. She didn’t want to tell him the horrible dream she’d had and her heart beat faster as she tried to formulate a response that didn’t involve confessing to murder or describing the horror she’d seen behind her eyelids. “It’s okay, you don’t have to talk about it,” he added. “I can tell you don’t want to. They say it helps sometimes but I always hated when Foggy would ask. I’d tell him that I just wanted to forget, but…it’s not his burden, you know?”

It was almost like he had seen into her soul in that moment, and she felt overwhelmed and exposed. Everyone has nightmares sometimes, but he had just vocalized exactly how she felt in the moment and she simply whispered, “Thank you. For staying.”

He shrugged and tipped his head slightly, attempting to look casual. She could tell he was still concerned about her but it was comforting how hard he was trying to put her at ease. “It’s nothing. I wanted to be here. Just in case.”

She realized his thumb was still absently stroking back and forth along her arm where he had laid his hand earlier, and she tried let the tension fall out of her shoulders as she enjoyed the comfort he offered. After a minute or two of the most comfortable silence she’d ever experienced, he told her quietly, “It’s midafternoon. I don’t know if you’re hungry, but Foggy says he knows the perfect soup to get you and he’s bringing some over in about an hour. Do you think you can rest until then?”

After a moment of thought, she decided she was calm enough to chance closing her eyes again. She nodded but remembered almost immediately to vocalize a whispered, “Yes.”

He gave her a small, crooked smile as he stood and pulled the blankets back up over her before leaving her room again and for once, she was actually confident bad dreams wouldn’t be a problem.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This was going to be longer but I decided to post it in chapters instead. Probably will only be one more chapter but there will be more. 
> 
> Kudos are awesome and comments would be super awesome thanks guys hope you enjoyed <3


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